It can take a Damascene conversion to see bow ties in a contemporary light. My own came some years ago, when I met a hip sales assistant in a cool store in SoHo, Manhattan, who was wearing one with a button-down Oxford shirt, a sweatshirt, a pair of old jeans and some simple sneakers. In that moment I realised that the bow tie's true nature is casual, jaunty, relaxed and easy to wear. Context is everything, meaning the outfit you wear it with, and, as ever in menswear, it's about using classic elements in a modern way.